Back in business!

It has been forever since I last posted. I have not had the lap top since a virus infected it a bit ago. Note to all those out there-be careful on public sites. I went to OC Marylands public page and got infected!



trying to break in!

f-ing squirrels!

Lots has gone on here. Fence is up-wire is on it so the dogs and kids (cannot) get out. Woody of course found a spot at the gate where he can slide under so I have a block of wood there now. We will fix it for good once we tear out that portion of our driveway and re-grade it and put in a paver walkway. The lady who owned our home prior to us had this gigantic driveway that actually extended into the back yard so we will be tearing that up shortly.



the shed will be moved to the clearing by the grill and rotated
90* to open to the backyard. asphalt inside fence is going to be
torn up too.





Back yard reno last weekend went really well. An old childhood friend of mine put our fence up and did a great job. Anyone who needs fence work or trees down go to Bryan Lure-I can give you his info if you need it. Frank and I worked on clearing small trees and underbrush while the guys installed the fence. We even took our turn at tearing up a portion of the old driveway to make room to move our large shed. This shit is no joke with getting a workout in. Raking and cleaning up are tiring-but tearing down trees, moving cords of wood and ripping up asphalt just put wear on your body. No wonder landscapers are in such great shape! We are not close to being done, but it is a major improvement from when we first moved in. I love to see the progress of the yard coming along. We have taken down about 10-15 small/medium trees and eliminated A LOT of mountain laurel which is everywhere! Frankie is digging his new chain saw that I got him for his birthday-I just need to get him a pair of overall and mask. Haha  One good thing about doing yard work is my biceps are back and the rest is getting stronger :)

Kids are definitely keeping me busy. Having the fence in is great-but that does not stop them from going through the garage to end up outside the fence. I need to put a chain lock on the garage door when we are home. Miss Riley is VERY guilty of going through the garage to play in the driveway. Her sweet little face is hard to get mad at, but I cannot get work done with her escaping through the garage door. Devin is loving all this moist dirt because that means WORMS! He loves playing with and looking for earth worms. I have even been able to find  little salamanders in the dirt for him to hold. Riley loves to hold them too, but for some reason is freaked out over ants and gnats? She screams and fake cries with gnats flying around her or an ant on her leg-but will hold a three inch long worm?

Our across the street neighbors gave us their old play set this weekend. Its one of the big Rainbow kind that has an extended arm on it from the playhouse. Frankie needs to rebuild the floor of the playhouse and supports around but overall its in great shape. He got the lumber the other night now just needs some free time to built it...Small detail...but Devin and Riley are pumped to be able to swing and slide in their own backyard. Once we replace a few more items it will be good as new and last a while in our yard. That was the one stinky part about living in Vegas-no room for a real playset! Horray for a real yard! and great neighbors!

Devin loves playing tball. I was warned that it is brutal to watch and it really is. Its cute that the little guys have fun doing it-but some of them are such dingbats and are not paying attention. Night games are way worse than morning games. Noone was into it last Friday night when he had his last game. It takes forever to get through an inning and it really is not baseball. There are very few kids that understand what to do with the ball if it comes to them and so on. It is sad to see that some of the older 6ish year olds on his team and the teams we play cannot throw far enough to get the ball where it needs to go, or hit well. It just means that their parents do not play with them in the yard and that is sad to me. Throwing and catching is one of the easiest things to do with your kid...get outside and do it parents! We have a game tonight, but since it is to rain all day I am guessing it will be canceled.